Broken Glass
by LadyGuilt
Summary: After the truth about Carson comes out and Jack returns to the dojo, Kim worries that her relationship with Jack will never be the same. As their friendship starts to fall apart, will they just give up or fight for what matters most? - Oneshot. Mild KICK.


**Disclaimer: **I'm not in any way shape or form affiliated with Kickin' It, Disney XD, It's A Laugh Production, Poor Soul Production or the actors who portrait the characters. Events, places and characters depicted on this story are completely fictitious and not meant to represent a real life event, place or person. Any similarity with reality is completely coincidental.

**Warnings: **This story had not been beta read. English is not my first languages. I apologize for all spelling and grammar errors.

**AN: **This story is set right after the events of "_New Jack City." _

Read, Enjoy and Review!

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**Broken Glass**

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Knowing that she had only a small window of time between Jack's last class of the day letting him out and the rest of their group of friends getting out as well, Kim waited for the black belt boy besides his locker. She hated the fact that things between them had gotten to the point where she practically had to ambush him, but the thought of letting things continue the way they have been for the past several weeks, was simply to much.

Kim wasn't mad at him, not really, though there was plenty of anger inside of her. Mostly directed at Carson, some of it, she had to admit, was directed at herself. But she didn't blame Jack for how he had been acting, she just wanted things to be the way they used to be, before Carson came back into her life.

Funny, how Kim had come to resent someone she once thought the world of.

"Jack." Kim said, the moment her best friend came around the corner. She watched in dismay as he stopped, hesitated for a moment, before making the rest of his way towards his locker.

"Hey, Kim." He was polite, Kim had to give him that. But even the smile he gave her didn't reach his eyes, and he stood a good two feet away from her. Distance, that was as emotional as it was physical. "Did we have plans to meet before practice?"

"No." Biting down the nerves, Kim decided to simply plunge ahead. "Are you mad at me, Jack?"

"What?" Surprised showed on his face, but Jack was quick to shake his head. "Of course not. Why would I be mad?" Giving her a suspicious look, he leaned against his locker. "Did you do something?"

"Of course not!" She should be glad to know Jack wasn't mad at her or claimed not to be in any case. But since she hadn't believed things were as simple as Jack being just angry to begin with, his reassurance did nothing to make her feel better. Quite the opposite.

"Okay, then." Jack said, stringing the words along, like he was in the habit of doing whenever he was confused about something.

"Listen," She started after a brief paused, but the hesitation cost her, as the rest of their friends bounced towards them in that moment. With a sigh, Kim stepped back from Jack, letting the subject drop.

"Hey, Guys." Milton greeted him, "We are planning of having something to eat before practice at Phil's. You two coming?"

Turning his back on them, Jack opened his locker. "Nah. I'm not hungry. I'll see you guys at practice."

"Okay," Though mildly disappointed, Milton shook that off quickly and turned towards Kim. "What about you?"

Eyes flickering briefly to Jack, Kim shook her head as well. "Sorry, guys. I'm just not feeling well. I think I might skip practice altogether." Fighting against the dangerous mix of emotions brewing inside of her, Kim realized that if she wanted to save her dignity, she needed to leave. "I'll see you guys later."

Kim walked away from the four of them as quickly as she could, forcing herself not to look back, scare of what she might see if she did. Was she the only one of them who noticed it? Was she the only one who saw they were losing Jack?

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When Kim got home, she was glad to see her mother had not arrived yet. She didn't felt like answering questions about why she skipped her Karate Practice that day, and though her father would ask, Kim knew she could easily get around him by uttering the words '_girl's problem._" But she didn't felt like staying at home and brooding about her situation either. That simply was not her nature, so instead of going to bed and stuffing her face with ice cream – like a small part of her actually wanted to – she took her four year old sister to the park.

She took a book with her, one Julie had assured her was simply 'a must read', but she couldn't concentrate on the story. Kim found it was easier to simply watch her younger sister, who looked so much like her, climb, and jump and run around the park. A small crowd of other children following her around like she was their little Queen.

Watching over her sister and the other children made Kim think back to her own childhood. Specifically about a time when she was around ten, and Kim and her cousins had broken a crystal vase her grandmother had adored. They tried to put it back together, and they thought they did a remarkable job of it. But over the next few weeks, Kim couldn't help but feel that the vase was being held together by _crazy glue_, childish carelessness and deception. At ten, she was honest to a fault, and had eventually confessed to her grandmother – keeping her cousins involvement as a secret – and had been surprised by her response.

"_I'm glad you told me, Kimmy dear. Confession is good for the soul." Her grandmother had said, a gentle smile on her worn face, as she sliced an apple pie. "But I already knew. You see, when something breaks, you can put it back together, but it will never be the same as it was before it was broken."_

Kim thought she understood what her grandmother meant then. But as the thought of her grandmother and the words she told Kim, on that afternoon years before, came to her now, she realized that she had missed a very important part of the lesson. It wasn't just objects that could break. People could too.

Yearning for her grandmother and her wisdom, Kim took out her phone, hoping that her grandma could tell her what to do, but stopped cold before she could dialed her number. She knew Jack was there before she saw him. It was weird, almost scary, how attune she was to the boy. Like her body could recognize his presence before the rest of her senses. It thrilled her. It scared her.

Jack sat next to her on the park bench. He was wearing the same clothes he did as school, so Kim was sure he had decided to skipped practice too. For awhile, neither one of them spoke, nor did they look at each other, they just sat in silence, staring at the gaggle of kids shouting and running. Eventually, Jack sighed and turned to face Kim. "I don't know how to fix this." He confessed.

Relief cursed swiftly over her. One, she was glad to see she hadn't been chasing shadows, and two, Jack still cared enough to at least try. "Acknowledging that you are mad at me helps." She shifted on the bench, giving her whole attention to Jack. Because she didn't know what to do with her hands, and didn't dare touch him, despite wanting to, she played with an old charmed bracelet her aunt had given her.

"I'm not." He said, a sad shake to his head. "I'm hurt." It made him feel better, if only slightly, to put a name to the emotions he had been feeling. "I don't want to leave the dojo, I don't want to lose the guys, to lose you, Kim. But I can't stop feeling," He stopped, unable to say the word.

"Betrayed." When Jack nodded, Kim sighed. "I'm sorry you feel that way, Jack. I know you have reasons to feel like we betrayed you, but it's not as black and white as that."

Jack snorted, and he might have stood up and left had Kim being defensive about it. But the girl, if anything, sounded miserable. "Then explain it to me."

"You think that we choose him over you. That we choose to believe him, instead of you. As if he was some random guy who suddenly showed up."

"I know you all had history with him but -"

Kim stopped him with a single look. Though Jack could see there was some regret on that, there was also fire. "Tell me something Jack, if you had gone to Japan when you had the chance, then came back, are we supposed to act like we are just meeting your for the first time?"

He scowled. "It's not the same."

"He is not you." Kim agreed. "But he wasn't that different. He was the one who started it all. The Wasabi Warriors. He was charming, polite, sure he was competitive, but he was a team player. The boys always came first to him."

"You were close with him too."

She wasn't sure, but she thought there was some jealousy on Jack's voice. "Yes, I was. He wasn't like them. I was a cheerleader, just barely getting interested in Karate. I wanted the best, and back then the best were the Black Dragon. Or I thought they were. He didn't try to get me to switch Dojos. To him, it was amusing. Hanging out with the Dragon's Princess, as he called me. He never tried to get me to be friends with the boys either. What Carson and I had, was childish, and normal and sweet. But we were friends, Jack. Just friends. I loved him, as much as a girl can love a boy at that age." Giving the details of her relationship with Carson to Jack, made the sting of Carson's betrayal that much sharper. More painful. "He was a boy when he left. We all were children, so when he came back, it was the boy we received back into our fold."

"Okay, I get it." He nodded, his heart aching for Kim, for all of the warriors, really. "But I was not exactly a stranger, Kim. You guys know me. You know I wouldn't lie."

"True, but." She blew out a breath, trying to put her thoughts back together. "If Frank came to you and told you he saw Milton cheating on an exam. Would you believe him?"

"Of course not!"

"What if I told you _I_ saw Milton cheating?"

"Well," He closed his mouth quickly, not knowing how to answer. Taking a moment to think it over, he eventually shrugged. "I don't know. I know Milton, he wouldn't cheat. But I know you, you had no reason to lie to me."

Kim nodded. "We live our lives based on the Wasabi Code, – and as far as we knew, Carson still did, as well.– We are taught to be loyal to the end. Yes, you _are_ our friend. But the thing is, we – I – thought he was my friend also."

Jack didn't say anything for several minutes, and Kim didn't intrude on his thoughts. She didn't know what else she could say to explain her actions, but she wasn't about to justified herself anymore either. That they – she – had made a mistake was obvious, but their hearts had been in the right place. At that point, it wasn't even about them, it was whether or not Jack could understand their positions and live with it.

"You didn't left the Black Dragons until I came here." He said suddenly, and there was something on his voice that Kim didn't recognized. "Why? Why not changed Dojos while Carson was here?"

"Because I didn't care enough about him to do it." The words slipped of her mouth before she even knew the thought had been there to say. "You didn't asked me to switched Dojos, Jack, and I'm not saying you are the only reason I did, because that's not true. But you were part of the reason. I saw something in you, in the way you were with the boys, something that was... There was a connection between you guys, an unity that I had never seen before. I wanted that. I wanted to be part of something that was bigger than myself."

"Did you find it?"

"Right until the moment I got blinded with nostalgia, I had that."

It was Jack who broke first, reaching towards Kim and taking her hand on his own. "You called me. And texted me." At her confused looked, he elaborated. "Before the Tournament. Before finding out I joined the Dragons, or seeing first hand that Carson was a cheater. You reached for me."

"I wanted him in my life, Jack. But not if it meant losing you."

Like a switch had been flipped, the dark shadows that had been on Jack's eyes cleared. He gave Kim a wide smile and leaning in kissed her cheek gently. "You are never going to lose me, Kim." He promised, and for the first time in weeks, she believed that they would be alright.

"Jack, Jack, Jack." A pink blur suddenly barreled it's way towards them, before the tiny body of Kim's sister jumped on the bench, claiming a spot on Jack's lap.

"There is my princess!" The boy cried, turning away from Kim, and holding the girl secure on his lap. Affection shined in his brown eyes as he looked down at the mini version of his best friend.

"Kiss. Kiss. Kiss." The girl demanded, turning her face to the side and puffing her cheek.

Making a big show, Jack gave her a big, sloppy kiss on the cheek, causing the girl to laugh in delight. "What you have been doing, Sprite? Turning people into toads?"

She shook her head quickly, before flicking his nose with a plastic wand. "I got a dungeon now," she said, pointing to the monkey bars.

"Oh, been throwing people there have you." He poked her belly, making her laugh harder. "Well, you my lady, are a cruel Queen." Somehow, the girl looked even more delighted at that. "How about I take you and your sister for some ice cream?"

"Pie!" The youngest Crawford demanded instead, fluttering her blonde lashes at him.

"Oh man, you sure know how to wrap a man around your little finger." Since that was something Kim had heard her father tell her sister countless time, she couldn't help but join in with a chuckle of her own. "Okay, pie it is."

"You know, I am kinda craving apple pie." Said Kim, picking up her book as well as her sister's stuff. Jack for his part, settled the little girl over his hip.

"Works for me." He grinned at her, a quick charming smiled Kim hadn't seen in weeks.

As she followed two of the people she loved most in the world, Kim thought back to her grandmother, and the conversation they had that eventful summer.

"_Are you going to throw the vase away, gran?" _

"_Now, why would I do that? Just because something is not the way it was before, doesn't mean it's not good or in fact, better." _

"_But it was broken."_

"_And now it's not. Do you know why? Because you – and certain people who will remain nameless – cared enough to put it back together. And that's what gives value to everything, Kimmy dear. When you really care, you keep trying to fix what was broken until it becomes better than it was." _

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**FIN**

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_AN(2): _First let me thank everyone who read this. Means the world to me. Second, I apologize once more for the mistakes in spelling and grammar. I'm currently in the market for a Beta reader, if anyone is interested please let me know.

I truly hope you enjoy this story. It was a very special one for me, as I found myself in a situation not unlike this one a couple of years ago. I, for one, I'm very glad that Jack and Kim managed to work things out.

As always, comments, suggestions, opinions, questions are welcome. Let me know what you thought about this story. Virtual cookies to everyone who reviews!

**LadyGuilt**


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